Starting Wage WOW 1967!

[REWahoo]

In 1963 I was earning $1.25/hr (minimum wage) at Safeway. That was when I was working inside the store stocking shelves, etc. Bagging groceries and hauling them out to customer's cars wasn't considered Interstate Commerce and paid only $1.00/hr - and no tipping was allowed.

[Nords]

1976-7 at Murrysville Golf Course. Cutting grass, digging ditches, plugging holes in the greens, occasionally starting on weekends. $4.25/hour, free golf, and whatever beer beverages we could sneak out of the clubhouse.

[cantlogin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR First "real" job was pumping gas at a Sunoco station for $1.25 hr., circa 1971.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 73ss454 In 1966 or 67, can't remember which, I was earning $1.28 an hour in a gas station after HS and weekends.

Great memories from those SERVICE station jobs.

[rescueme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 1967 In the Army, private, I think about $55/month, life was good full room and board. Fort Jackson, South Carolina in July. Only 40 recruits per floor of old wooden barracks, fresh air through partially open windows. DIs for alarm clock -tossing the trash can across the barracks floor at four thirty in the morning. Ah the joys of reveille, NOT.

"Three hot's and a cot" (what's not to like ).

Yea, been there, done that (same year, but basic in Texas for the AF).

[lets-retire]

My first real job paid $40 per day salary, Monday-Friday. I had no benefits at all. I drove a garbage truck and was not unionized. If the truck broke, I suddenly became the company's mechanic for all but the major fixes. Most days were longer than 10 hours per day, but in the winter they shortened down to some being 6 or 7 hours, if the truck didn't break (we were always rebuilding hydraulic cylinders, or replacing hoses, or fixing something). It sounds not too bad, until you figure this was 89. I quit in 91 making $48 per day and still without any benefits. I had job security and pay stability. Most of the other jobs in the area were based on Detroit and had frequent layoffs, but better pay and benefits while working. The DW (girlfriend at the time) made a whopping -$1300 (yes that is a negative number) from the business she owned with her mother. I worked with the DW one weekend a month, if my main job didn't have any extra work on Saturday. Normally there was weekend work during the spring and fall. My main job paid $20-25 to work on Saturday depending on how much we had to do. The hours were easy enough start at 9 and work until done, normally 5 or 6 hours, but again sometimes much longer, if the truck broke. In total my annual extra pay was less than $600.

[Walt34]

It seems a lot of us did the gas station job. A great one for a HS kid. I did that for two years at $1.25/hour 1967-69 and bought a Yamaha Twin Jet 100 motorcycle for $300.

Then went to work for Sears as a "gofer" for the service techs in the heating and A/C section while in community college. It was more than minimum wage but not by much. Full time during the summer and worked in the office evenings two or three days a week when school was in.

Then got hired by the county PD and didn't know what to do with all that money - $11,500 a year! Half again what my Dad made just before he passed away. Interesting side story:

I was still living at home during the academy training, didn't have a bank account, so when I needed more gas/lunch money I'd just take another paycheck off the dresser, cash it at the local bank and just use that until the money ran out, then cash another. The academy was a "total immersion" experience for about six months - classes/range/driving all day and studying 3-5 hours every night, all day Saturday and half of Sunday so there wasn't time for spending money.

Well, the paychecks sort of accumulated so toward the end of the class I had a small pile of them. The Sgt. went to the front of the class one morning and asked me to stand.

Sgt.: We received at call from the county finance office about you.

Me: What about, sir?

Sgt.: You have too many outstanding paychecks and you're screwing up their account reconciliations. They ask that you please cash your paychecks.

Bearing in mind that a lot of classmates were married and had children so were struggling on that paycheck, I got a lot of strange looks. Some of them asked if I was independently wealthy. Not by any stretch, but by the time the academy ended in August of 1973 I had about $3,500 in my new bank account. That was more money than I'd ever seen.

[heyduke]

my first real job was 1972 for 1.60 per hour washing dishes ... yes washing dishes... had to start somewhere ... in 3 months got promoted to 1.85 per hour washing pots and pans... the rest is history...

first car bought brand new was a 1973 Vega for 1995.00... remember those... aluminum blocks...lol

[cantlogin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 It seems a lot of us did the gas station job. A great one for a HS kid. I did that for two years at $1.25/hour 1967-69 and bought a Yamaha Twin Jet 100 motorcycle for $300...

I can't remember my hourly rate from 1969 but a YL-1 was my first "car" too! I'll never forget that.

[Orchidflower]

When I signed up for Social Security this year I was told I made a whopping $5,000-something in 1965. The lady said if I thought that was bad it was equal to something like $43,000 today. They have a chart that can tell you what the equivalent is in today's terms, and we both had a good laugh out of my sad little $5,000+ salary...yeah, pretty funny today I agree.
I, also, had a new Chevy Vega in 1974, which I purchased for $2,000 as it was one they were trying to get rid of. I drove it on the streets of Chicago, and, after a mere 4 years, it had rusted so much underneath that the battery was just wedged between the motor and propped there. The metal sheet the battery was bolted to had completely rusted thru!!!! One big pothole and that battery would have fallen down and into the street!!!! What a piece of crapola those Vega's were..whew!

[Rustward]

My 72 Vega was a rolling rustbucket. But, it was more reliable than a Pinto.

[check6]

In '69 I was making $2.00/hr as a sailing instructor/ski boat driver in Hawaii. Also was going to college on a sailing scholarship. Tough life!